


Naruto’s New Year Resolution

by hinata22



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 13:40:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17602418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hinata22/pseuds/hinata22
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke have slipped into a sexual relationship, but Naruto realises he needs more and makes a resolution to confront Sasuke about it. The problem is working out what Sasuke wants.





	1. Chapter 1

Naruto looked at himself in the mirror one last time before leaving for Ino and Sakura’s New Year party. Snazzy orange suit, check. Winning grin, check. Almost styled hair, check. Absolutely utterly ready to go. Absolutely utterly no reason for him to delay a single second.

  
He rushed back into his kitchen to check if he’d left the oven on. Even though he hadn’t cooked since Christmas Day and had been living on cold leftovers, chocolates, and cinnamon flavoured sweets since then.

  
Likewise he checked his iron wasn’t still plugged in. Even though he had to search through several cupboards before he discovered he kept his iron safely stored underneath a surfboard, one roller-skate, and a tangle of skipping ropes. None of which he could ever remember using or explain how they had appeared in his home.

  
Then he felt it. That unmistakable aura sweeping closer. The breath caught in his throat. His fingers went to his buttons yearning to strip his clothes off and leap onto the bed. No, not the bed, the bed was too far away. The floor right beneath him would do. He visualised himself naked on all fours waiting for the arrival of the man his body panted for.  
With a groan, instead of undressing, he forced himself to fasten the two top buttons of his shirt so it strangled around his neck, and pull his belt three notches tighter so there definitely wouldn’t be any easy pulling off of any of his clothes. He’d vowed to do this and he would do this properly. He was always a man of his word.

  
He stood still, he was too used to following his instincts, and too unused to thinking and trying to decide on the logical course of action. If greeting his guest naked with his ass in the air and cheeks spread was no longer an option, what was he supposed to do? The option that kept flashing in his mind was speeding away before the bastard arrived, show that arrogant piece of shit what it felt like to be alone in an empty apartment when you were looking forward to being with someone.

  
But avoiding him felt cowardly. And this particular arrogant piece of shit would probably have the briefest glance around without the tiniest frown marring his perfect face when he realised Naruto was gone, and then he’d fuck off to who knows where without thinking of Naruto again for weeks, possibly months. No, if Naruto wanted to share his pain then there had to be some shouting and punching involved. Preferably lots and lots of punching.

  
So when a window opened and cold air blew into the lounge and a man slid his hot body through the gap, Naruto was there waiting.

  
‘Teme,’ he growled, arms folded across his chest.

  
The tiniest of frowns did crease Sasuke’s perfect brow as he looked at Naruto,‘Is your stupidity increasing to the extent that you didn’t sense me coming?’

  
‘Of course I sensed you. You might as well be shooting fireworks out of your ass and have a choir of giant toads following your around singing ‘The Great Amazing Uchiha has finally returned to Konoha and wants to fuck Naruto’, that’s how good you are at masking your presence.’

  
Sasuke’s expression was blank, but there was perhaps at a push, and straining to listen with all Naruto’s ninja senses turned up to eleven, a possible slight discernible tinge of annoyance in the arrogant bastard’s voice.

  
‘Why are you still dressed then?’

  
Naruto was ready to shoot back an incredibly cutting and witty reply that would probably have made Sasuke fall to his knees and bawl like a baby who’d just dropped his ice cream on the floor and realised that he’d never have such delicious tasty irresistibly sweet ice cream in his whole life ever again, when Sasuke smiled that smile; the one that only appeared when they were alone together.

  
Naruto’s mouth hung open with a sound way closer to a puppy whine rather than a sharp comeback emerging from somewhere deep inside him. Sasuke was standing in front of him unbuckling Naruto’s belt before proper words started to form again in Naruto’s brain. It was too unfair for one person to be so gorgeous. It was too unfair that Naruto had trained himself to be one of the strongest shinobi in the world, and he could still feel so helpless and in another person’s power.

  
‘I like this.’ Sasuke whipped Naruto’s belt away and dropped it to the floor, so much for making it harder for Sasuke to undress him. ‘Giving me something to unwrap,’ Sasuke continued smiling that smile. ‘It does make it feel like Christmas.’

  
Naruto punched him square in the chest sending him spinning across the room. The sideboard Sasuke’s body crashed against, splintered into pieces, Sasuke looked as if he’d registered nothing more dangerous than the flutter of a butterfly’s wing passing him by.

  
‘You want to play like that today, do you, Uzumaki?’ Sasuke smirked the smirk that everyone saw. ‘I know it turns you on, so we can spar as much as you want. And as it is Christmas I’ll even let you think you can beat me.’

  
‘Stop saying that! It’s not Christmas! It’s New Year’s Eve now! Christmas was days ago and I turned down all the invitations I received, and spent ages and ages cooking and recooking to try and make the perfect meal for you. I even made up my own recipe by myself for these cinnamon sweet things for you and it was really difficult but I got it right but now I’ve eaten them all as you didn’t turn up and it was the closest I could get to the taste of you on my tongue!’

  
‘Why would you do that?’

  
‘Why would I do what?’

  
‘Any of those things you thought it was worth screaming about.’ Sasuke turned his head away from Naruto towards the window as if he was thinking of leaving and was already too bored to hear the answer to his own question.

  
With effort, Naruto kept his voice calm…or calmish anyway. ‘You promised you’d spend Christmas Day with me. Last time you were here, before you left, I asked you, and you said yes, and I’ve been excited and looking forward to it ever since. I wanted it to be special for us.’ He took a deep breath. ‘We hardly ever see each other to start with because you’re out doing whatever you do everywhere and anywhere but here. And since we started, yaknow, fucking, that’s all we do when we’re together. I just wanted us to be like friends, chatting and eating and having a good time without the sex for one day.’

  
‘I never promised I’d spend Christmas with you.’ Sasuke said in his iciest voice.

  
‘You did.’ Naruto’s hands clenched into fists. ‘You know you did. I am not a liar.’

  
‘No. You’re not. But you are a deluded idiot. Why would I agree to spend Christmas with you, especially if you were imagining it with no fucking involved? Your ass is worth my time for sexual relief, but I have absolutely no interest in talking to you, today, tomorrow, or ever. I hope that is clear enough for you and there’ll be no further misunderstandings between us.’

  
With casual indifference Sasuke made towards the window he’d only recently entered through. Naruto leapt forward using his quickest speed. He resisted punching Sasuke again, despite what the bastard said, if Naruto had gone this far it was essential that they did talk.

  
‘I know you remember. We were cuddling between…sessions. And I was telling you how happy I was with you and how I’d really like to spend Christmas with you and you agreed it sounded nice, and you’d like to spend the day with me. Then we kinda did tons of kissing and more…stuff… but later just before you left, I said,” Promise you’ll be back for Christmas,” and you promised. That was clear enough for me, Sasuke.’

  
‘I remember your side of the conversation as you report it, but I didn’t say any of the things you’re imagining I did.’

  
Naruto’s cheeks flushed with heat, he rubbed the back of his head. ‘Well, yaknow, you just replied with your ‘hnnnns’ but…but I know the difference between them, you know that I know what they really mean which is why I know that you like to talk to me that way ‘cause you don’t have to bother with direct replies or whatever, you can just be relaxed and do your thing, as you know we understand each other.’

  
‘Yes. That much is at least correct. I did think we understood each other, which is why this thing worked. But it seems I was wrong.’

  
‘No…no, you’re not wrong. We do work. I just want us to extra-work.’

  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. ‘Is this your pathetic way of telling me you’re not happy with our arrangement? Do you want romance? Am I supposed to bring you flowers and tell you how pretty your eyes are before I bend you over and fuck you until you can’t breathe?’

  
‘No! That’s not what I’m saying at all. Unless, yaknow, you want to bring me flowers… if you do think my eyes are pretty, you can tell me. Do you think my eyes are pretty? And it works both ways, I can give you flowers and compliments too…like I think your eyes are way more than pretty, they’re fanfuckingtasticgorgeousmesmerisingamazingheartmelting beautiful.’

  
Sasuke sighed. ‘All right. If this is what you need today, dobe, you do have nice eyes. Now let’s fuck.’

  
Naruto found himself pulled forward by his waistband. Warm lips were caressing his neck and deft fingers were undoing his shirt buttons before his brain engaged and reminded him however it felt, Sasuke’s hands on his naked skin was actually the opposite of the thing he needed right now more than anything else in the whole world.  
He half jumped back and half pushed Sasuke away. ‘No. We’re not doing this. Not until we get things sorted out. This is my New Year’s Resolution, you’re not going to just appear when you feel like it and use my body and disappear again. There has to be more than that between us.’

  
‘Hnn.’ Sasuke gazed pointedly down at the obvious tenting in Naruto’s clothes.

  
Naruto put his hands in front of his groin, his face reddening. ‘I’m not denying how hot I am for you. We both know how I feel about you. But I need what I’ve always needed from you, acknowledgement of me as a whole person, more than just your favourite sex buddy when you’re in town.’ He reached out and quickly squeezed Sasuke’s hand. ‘I was so disappointed, I missed you so much, on Christmas Day, I cried myself to sleep. And I maybe cried a bit the next day too. And maybe the day after. Then you turn up now and expect me not to even mention your no-show, you want me to be sucking on your cock without you even having the respect to apologise to me or offer an explanation for causing me so much heartache.’

  
Sasuke’s face showed no emotion. ‘I can have anyone I want, why do you think I chose you?’

  
If Naruto’s cheeks were flushed before, now they were on fire. It was a question he’d been asking himself ever since that first time when they’d been laying on the ground panting and sweating after a long sparring session and for no knowable reason Sasuke had taken Naruto’s hand and put it on top of the bulge in his pants. But he didn’t want Sasuke to realise he had any insecurities or doubts. Which was probably why it hadn’t been the best idea to just confess to the bastard that he’d been sobbing like the orphan kid he’d once been. And all over one missed date that Sasuke insisted he’d never even agreed to in the first place.

  
Naruto squared his shoulders and with his most blustering voice declared, ‘No one can make you as happy as I can.’

  
Sasuke gave a small smile that was unreadable even to Naruto with all his Sasuke knowledge.

  
It was a moment before the Uchiha spoke. ‘You are easy, Naruto, that is the one and only reason you get my dick. If you want to make things difficult you don’t get my dick.’

  
Naruto gritted his teeth. ‘Asking you to treat me with respect is only difficult to someone who is a complete and utter bastard.’

  
Sasuke gave a small shrug. He looked past Naruto at the open window but then instead walked towards the door. With his hand on the door knob he gazed over his shoulder at Naruto. ‘You said this whole thing is your New Year’s Resolution. It’s still New Year’s Eve, we have hours left to fuck like we normally do before you call this thing between us off.’

  
‘It’s you who is walking away and choosing to end it not me.’ His words were fine, but the voice he spoke them in was wavering and questioning. When Sasuke really walked away from something, he walked away, he didn’t pause at the door and continue the conversation. Maybe it hadn’t gone as badly as Naruto feared it had?  
In a softer voice Naruto said, ‘Come to Sakura and Ino’s party with me. We can have fun, kiss at midnight, come home and, yaknow, take things from there.’

  
‘Fun is your ass backing onto my cock. Fun is not having to spend the remains of the year having Sakura and Ino fawn over me like they’re still pathetic thirteen year old fangirls.’

  
‘Hey, they’re not like that anymore! Sure they might still have a bit of a crush on you, but lots of people do, that’s not a crime. And they’ve been really supportive and been giving good relationship advice to me.’

  
Sasuke’s face sparked with fury. ‘That last comment better not mean you have been discussing what we do in private with other people?’

  
‘Who else would I need relationship advice about? You’re the only one screwing me around, everyone else is really nice. Like I’ve been trying to tell you, I was really upset waiting for you on Christmas Day, and then I was just staying in I couldn’t be bothered to go out, and all the gang came around to see what was up with me and, yaknow, I told them. I am allowed to speak about my own life to whoever I want!’

  
‘Yes you are, and you can be sure it won’t involve me from now on. Happy New Year!’

  
The slam of the door shook the walls. A picture fell off, glass shattering across the floor. Without looking Naruto knew it would be the single one he had of just him and Sasuke together; barely able to stand, arms around each other’s necks, bruised and cut after one of their worse competitive bouts. Kakashi had taken it to show them how they pushed each other too far, but Naruto had seen it as however much they fought they always were together and supported each other in the end. He bit his lip, then straightened his clothes, retrieved his belt off the floor, forced a grin on his face and headed out to Sakura and Ino’s party.


	2. Chapter 2

With Sasuke spending about a zillion more times outside Konoha than in the village, Naruto had gone months without sex before and not really thought about it beyond eagerly waiting Sasuke’s return to his bed, but the days following the argument with Sasuke were sheer lustful agony. It felt like his whole being resided in his cock and ass, humiliatingly mostly his ass. He rushed away from his friends early, did his shopping trips as quickly as possible, had even risked the wrath of Tsunade by cutting short a meeting with her, all because of the desire wracking through him. However long and often he rubbed himself off it was never enough.

And as the days had turned to weeks his need grew stronger rather than lessened. He repeatedly and confidently told himself he was done with Sasuke, he was glad their ‘thing’ was over, Sasuke walking out had saved him the effort of throwing him out, and now that that distraction was gone forever, he could focus back on girls who were way way more appealing than Sasuke’s bony white ass anyway.

But some annoying thing inside him that was every bit the idiot that Sasuke accused him of being, continually insisted that Sasuke’s ass wasn’t bony, it was beautifully curved and muscular and the perfect shape for gripping with his fingers when Sasuke was making the world turn into all kinds of wonderful grinding up against him.

And as soon as he thought about how beautiful Sasuke was and how much pleasure they gave each other, a hollowness grew inside Naruto and a tsunami of tears roared up inside him. It was an irrational grief as huge as if Sasuke was dead, rather than had just decided to stop screwing around with him. The only way Naruto had found to (temporarily) stop his emotions exploding was by furiously playing with himself until he reached a too-short ecstasy of oblivion.

It was near the end of January and Naruto knew he was a mess. He’d been super hungry, nothing in his cupboards, the remains of the massive Christmas Day meal he’s prepared for Sasuke finally used up. There was no choice but to venture out into the world of people who didn’t need to wank all day thinking about their bastard ex fuck buddy who’d been all fuck and no buddy. But in the middle of doing his shopping Naruto stopped in front of the tomatoes and got weepy eyed remembering Sasuke giving him a lecture in his most arrogant annoying voice about how Naruto needed to eat more healthily. At the time, it’d led to an argument which ended with Naruto throwing his ramen over Sasuke’s stupid head, but now Naruto’s heart ached as if they’d been the most tender words of love Sasuke had ever spoken to anyone. Which being Sasuke they possibly were. Naruto raced home without buying anything and within seconds was naked on the bed lube in hand, eyes closed murmuring to his imagined companion.

‘Hmmmm, yeah, baby, you’re so sweet thinking what’s best for me all the time. Yeah, I know, I am so lucky to have you looking after me. You put _whatever_ you want into my mouth and I’ll slurp it all down like a good boyfriend.’

He flipped open the lube but then threw it to the side. Sasuke often didn’t bother using it so neither would he. Admittedly flexible as he was, he couldn’t spend hours in the way Sasuke had with his head between Naruto’s buttocks as if it was the most pleasurable place in the world to be, licking and making his hole pliable with his hot tongue. But that thought made him emit a low whine and almost broke the illusion beyond repair so he quickly dismissed it, creased his eyes closed and carried on the best he could pretending Sasuke was with him loving him.

‘Do you remember when we first had sex and you were so tender and sweet and patient, totally different from normal-you, teaching me how to take your cock inside me so it was good for both of us?’ Naruto twisted his body around to hook one hand into his ass and the other around his cock. ‘And I thought it was the hottest thing ever possible? Then you moved on to being totally like normal-you bending me over and fucking me without a single word, and I thought _that_ was the hottest thing ever possible? Though I guess when I think back to it, I kinda missed the tender-sweet-patient you and wanted to spend a bit more time with that guy too. I still do if you’re forcing me to be totally honest.’

He swallowed, this wasn’t working. He’d never spoken to Sasuke like this when he had the real man with him touching him. He needed to make it more like it had been.

‘Fuck, oh fuck, Sasuke, that’s sooo good, please don’t stop, please never stop.’

But it wasn’t good.

Naruto wasn’t too confident on what happened when this life finished. He knew there was _something_ , he’d seen enough ghosts and reanimated corpses to know things didn’t end, but if Iruka sensei had ever taught him what that something was he couldn’t remember, especially not now in the middle of struggling to get himself off. He just really really hoped it involved meeting some creator dude who he could yell out for making it that a stuck-up bastard who thought he was better than everyone else and didn’t even deserve to be Naruto’s friend could give Naruto’s body a thousand times more pleasure than Naruto could by himself. What kind of sicko made a world like that?

Or maybe the problem was just him. What kind of person couldn’t masturbate properly? He shouldn’t have tried doing it so much Sasuke’s way. They might train equally as hard, but Sasuke’s fingers were all elegant and soft, whereas Naruto’s hands were hard calloused skin. Doing things the same could never work, he just had to do it as he always did and concentrate extra hard on thinking about the Uchiha.

With a growl Naruto released the hand on his cock and felt around for the lube. He didn’t dare open his eyes, visual undeniable proof that he was completely alone in his room fantasising about his ex was the last thing he could cope with right now. He fumbled about while still trying to keep himself in the moment by finger fucking his ass and moaning his former lover’s name.

Fingers gently turned Naruto’s hand palm upwards.

‘Looking for this, dobe.’

The bottle of lube was dropped into his hand.

‘Thanks, teme,’ Naruto said. Then he bit his lip and slowly opened his eyes as his brain registered what had just happened.

Sasuke was standing there in all his gorgeous glory. Naruto gazed up into those dark enchanting eyes. Nevermind that he couldn’t normally genjutsu a bored slug, had all this sexual energy giving him enough power that he had unconsciously genjutsued himself into a world where Sasuke was so solid looking and real? Odder things had definitely happened to him.

The thing that convinced him that he hadn’t, was Sasuke’s smirk, if this was his fantasy the other man would be as mad with lust as Naruto was, not standing there watching Naruto squirm with such a superior look on his face.

‘I knew you were there all along, I was just putting on a show, teasing you with what you can’t get anymore.’ Naruto’s cheeks flushed with heat and he blinked several times. In a quieter voice he asked, ‘But, if, yaknow, maybe possibly I was a little distracted from using my normally perfect ninja senses and only realised you were here when I opened my eyes…how long have you been…watching…exactly?’

‘Long enough.’ Sasuke stoked back the locks of hair that were stuck to Naruto’s forehead with sweat, then stepped away.

Naruto couldn’t prevent himself nudging his head towards Sasuke’s hand like some attention starved kitty.

Sasuke’s smirk disappeared and was replaced with his standard mask of indifference. ‘There’s something I need to show you.’

‘Now?’ Naruto raised his eyebrows.

‘Now. Save your lube for later and get dressed.’

Naruto opened his mouth thinking he was going to shout at Sasuke for the presumption of turning up again in his room and ordering him about as if their last conversation hadn’t happened, but all he said was a simple, ‘OK.’

He justified his obedience to himself as he quickly pulled his clothes on, reasoning that it was difficult to work up a decent argument when the man you wanted to get angry with had probably just seen you fingering yourself as you moaned out his name.

Then Sasuke was leaping out of the window and across Konoha before Naruto had even done his zipper up, so all he could do was chase after the man without any chance to confront him in a dignified manner. The Uchiha was twisting around routes Naruto wasn’t familiar with, leaving Konoha far behind and heading through tough terrain so Naruto had to concentrate to make sure he didn’t lose sight of him. Or worse misjudge his footing and have to call out for Sasuke to come back and pull him out from being wedged in the ground and carry him the rest of the way. Although to be fair that had only happened three or four, or maybe five times. It was possible that sometimes his attention was occasionally more focused on Sasuke’s ass ahead of him than the branch beneath his feet than it strictly should be. And then there was the time he had totally discarded his pride and faked slipping and hurting his ankle just to enjoy being whooshed along in Sasuke’s arms. His rebellious heart considered doing something similar now, but his head reminded him how things had been left with Sasuke on New Year’s Eve and that the bastard was just as likely to zoom away annoyed that Naruto wasn’t keeping up with him, as he was to offer him snuggles and care. So Naruto kept being good and following, trying to soothe his pride by forming devastating insults he could destroy Sasuke with when they finally stopped. And trying not to get too excited and happy that the bastard was back.

Sasuke’s pace slowed _slightly_ when they reached a cave entrance, but still he rushed through the pitch black craggy tunnels with a familiarity that Naruto copied as best he could by listening to the exact placement of all Sasuke’s footfalls. It was almost embarrassingly easy to hone in on the movements of the other man’s body in the darkness of the cave network. There was also a strange reassuring comfort to it, travelling in silence with Sasuke, not knowing where he was going, but despite how things had ended with them on New Year’s Eve and the heartaching disappointment of being stood up on Christmas Day, trusting the other man unquestionably.

‘We’re here. Take my hand, Usuratonkachi. I don’t want you displaying all your usual clumsiness and falling down the cliff after all the effort of bringing you here.’  

Naruto truly did have a sharp retort about how the Uchiha would be the one being punched through cliff faces if he didn’t acknowledge that Naruto was a perfectly balanced amazing shinobi who didn’t ever fall anywhere (when he wasn’t being distracted by Sasuke’s ass anyway, not that that detail needed to be ever mentioned), but the simple sensation of Sasuke’s fingers linking through his made the breath stop in his throat and he allowed himself to be meekly led forward.

They emerged onto a jutting cliff edge overlooking a snow filled valley just as the sky was filling with the deep purples and reds of a winter sunset.

Naruto squeezed Sasuke’s hand tightly in his. ‘This is…beautiful.’

The word wasn’t strong enough to capture his soaring emotions at the splendour of nature spread out before him. In Konoha he wouldn’t have even glanced out of his window to watch the changing of day to night, and the snow was annoying mush to traipse through, but here it was laid out like the most perfect work of art. They travelled around the world on missions, through incredible places that most people wouldn’t even know existed, but the shinobi life was fast paced and you were far more likely to destroy a grove of trees than sit and admire the different shades of green leaves.

‘I discovered this when I was looking for somewhere secluded to train,’ Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded, Sasuke was always looking for hidden and unknown areas where he could stay for hours on end without being bothered by any of his fangirls. Occasionally he’d bring Naruto to one of them for sparring, which was of course what this was. What else had Naruto seriously thought it was? Sasuke wanted someone to test his skills against at night and in the variable conditions of the snow. To someone like Sasuke the fact that their sexual relationship had ended on a bitter note would be irrelevant to the fact of Naruto being a good match for him as part of his training regime. The Uchiha would see them as totally different unrelated things. And Naruto should too. Becoming the best ninja he could be and helping Sasuke to do the same had to be more important than an experimental sexual fling.

‘So, you want to start then?’ Naruto pulled his hand away from Sasuke’s and began stretching his arms above his head. He could deal with his emotions later, which no doubt would involve frigging his ass to hell and back, but right now he needed to focus on being a good opponent for his team mate and not revealing any more embarrassing affection for him.

In a fluid movement Sasuke’s arm darted towards Naruto. It wasn’t any attack move that Naruto recognised. With his body at full alert he watched wide eyed as if it was happening to someone else, while Sasuke reached for his hand, took it into his warm grasp again, holding it for a moment above his heart than allowing it to hang between their two bodies.

‘Wait,’ Sasuke commanded.

Naruto stood still, but it didn’t feel like waiting, it felt like this was the moment he was living in, just standing with his first friend, holding hands watching the sunset. He kept his eyes forward, watching the sun disappear and the stars sparkle into sight. He didn’t dare look at Sasuke, just as he hadn’t been able to open his eyes when he was trying to wank earlier, for fear of ruining the dream. His whole being was telling him this was the most romantic moment of his whole life, and his brain had to fight hard to remind him that the holding hands thing was going to be part of a new ninja move that Sasuke would reveal soon, and that they weren’t together as a couple enjoying the magnificence of a sunset, but were just two shinobis not wasting energy while they waited for the exact right conditions to begin their night sparring. Although what those conditions were remained a mystery to Naruto. The moon was a large white circle in the midnight blue sky and they were still standing silently together.

‘Look down,’ Sasuke said.

It was so long since either of them had spoken that Sasuke’s voice seemed more authoritative and even had a mystical quality in the still night air. Naruto obeyed without thinking. Where before there had been an uninterrupted covering of snow in the valley there was now hundreds of sun-orange flowers poking through the snow.

Naruto gasped at the sight and turned to face Sasuke.

‘Keep watching.’ With a finger and thumb, Sasuke turned Naruto’s chin back to looking down in the valley. ‘Use your sage eyes if you need to.’

Naruto weaved the signs and now he could see dancing amongst the flowers were dozens of navy blue butterflies, feeding on the nectar of the blooms.

‘I didn’t know butterflies came out at night and in winter too?’ Naruto bit his tongue. It was such a bland thing to say but how could he put in words the thumping of his heart at seeing such beauty.

‘They don’t. Not normally. Very few people have seen what you’re seeing now. There are only three places in the world these flowers bloom, and it doesn’t happen every year. The conditions have to be exactly right, the surface weather, the ground temperature, the moon phase, but when they appear the butterflies always do. As caterpillars they can survive in their chrysalis for up to ten years, yet after emerging they only have a night of life left to feed , find a mate, migrate, then use the last of their energy to lay their eggs. Everything you see will be dead by morning.’

‘Thanks for the science lecture. You picking up knowledge to try and seduce Shino with a few insect facts, or do you know all this crap ‘cause you’re already fucking him?’

Naruto’s voice sounded loud and harsh to his own ears, hell knew what it sounded like to Sasuke. He hadn’t meant to say anything like that, he’d just wanted to cover his emotions, not just from the magnificent unexpectedness of the scene before him, but the embarrassment of how his cock had sprung erect at the way Sasuke had said ‘mate’, it wasn’t even an erotic word at the best of times let alone when talking about insects, but however ridiculous it was he couldn’t deny how turned on his body was. And then that was all mixed up with a feeling of intense sadness at Sasuke saying everything he was looking at would soon be gone.

But Sasuke didn’t react to Naruto’s goading tone, not even with one of his ‘hnnns’ and they returned to silence.

Naruto’s mind whirled with the possibility that he had inadvertently struck on the truth and that Sasuke had replaced him with another ninja lover. Or all along had been screwing Shino as well. It made perfect sense. Why Sasuke could stand him up on Christmas Day without even thinking about it. Why Sasuke could walk away from him so easily. Naruto wasn’t as important to the Uchiha as the Uchiha was to him, Naruto was just an option amongst many, not the only one like Sasuke was to Naruto. And Naruto couldn’t be angry about it, when things had started between them at no point had Naruto removed Sasuke’s hands from his body or stopped his own explorations of his friend to clarify what was happening between them. He felt a sudden and new sympathy for Sasuke turning up on New Year’s Eve anticipating their usual fun and instead getting a Naruto making demands that had nothing to do with how their relationship had worked before then.

He shook his head, there was no point thinking about these things, especially with the cause of all his fretting standing indifferently beside him. He just needed to focus on why Sasuke had dragged him out here tonight and he’d deal with everything else later when he was alone again.

‘So you want help collecting these rare flowers for some special jutsu or medicine or recipe or whatever, and no one else was available so you came and got me?’ Naruto crossed his arms. ‘Shall we get on with it then?’

‘Naruto.’ Sasuke pronounced every syllable of his name in a way that caused shivers to go down Naruto’s spine. ‘Even you cannot be stupid enough to believe that I’d lead you all the way out here because I needed help picking flowers.’

As he spoke Sasuke pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around Naruto’s shoulders. Naruto tried to shake it off protesting he wasn’t so feeble that he needed Sasuke’s clothes as well as his own while Sasuke showed off how tough he was striding around in the snow bare chested. But Sasuke merely gave a small smile and squeezed Naruto’s waist.

‘You’re such a child sometimes. I saw you shiver, you don’t have to pretend with me, if I see you’re cold, I don’t think you’re weak, I want to warm you up. Wait just a moment longer, I stored some things ready for bringing you here. I should have got them immediately, but…’ Sasuke paused but didn’t finish his sentence, instead he turned away and disappeared back into the caves behind them.

Standing alone, Naruto found his hands caressing over Sasuke’s shirt and pulling it tight around him. What was going on tonight? He was grateful that Sasuke returned quickly and he was distracted from the utter confusion of his thoughts.

Sasuke laid a beautiful orange blanket down on the edge of the cliff and indicated for Naruto to sit down on it. Naruto sat with his legs dangling over the side. Sasuke sat beside him, producing a flask, he poured liquid out into the cup, warming it with a small breath of fire and passed it to Naruto. Naruto sipped on the most deliciously sweet hot chocolate he’d ever tasted in his life. He gulped it all down and held out the cup for more. Sasuke laughed in undisguised delight as he poured and heated another drink for Naruto. Naruto frowned, he couldn’t let himself relax and give into his own natural happiness as it’d just hurt even more later.

‘If you don’t want to collect these rare flowers, and you don’t seem to be in any hurry to spar and practice your skills fighting in the snow, _why_ are we here?’

Sasuke drew in an audible breath. Naruto watched the rise and fall of his friend’s chest which was much more rapid than usual, but the most unusual thing was that when Sasuke started speaking it was in a shy, vulnerable voice he’d never heard before in all the years they’d known each other. After their worse missions, Sasuke battered, bruised, limbs twisted at horrendous angles, and bleeding out, still spoke in that superior Uchiha voice as if nothing could ever affect him, and he was Emperor of the world and everyone else was his unimportant minions.

‘When we last met…you indicated you wanted things to be different between us…I don’t think I am capable of…dating…like a normal person, but I want you to realise I will try…for you.’ Sasuke dropped his head forward into his hands. ‘And this is me thinking about nothing but what would make you happy. Attempting to be romantic. To give you flowers and chocolate. That’s why we’re here.’

Naruto gazed down at the spectacular view before him and took a more hesitant sip of the hot chocolate. In a voice that emerged as shy as Sasuke’s he said, ‘You told me that you only had sex with me because I was easy and this doesn’t seem easy.’

Sasuke’s parted his fingers and looked sideways through them at Naruto. ‘I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Nothing I said last time came out right.’

‘What did you mean then?’ Naruto asked quietly.

There was a long silence before Sasuke spoke again.

‘I think I meant that being with you is easy, that you’ve always been the one person who I believed saw me and knew me. From the beginning, you’ve never cared that I’m the last Uchiha, you never fawned over me being a prodigy ninja, you didn’t understand why everyone thought I was so good looking, and you completely ignored the icy shell I’d so carefully built around myself. After Itachi killed everyone, it felt like I’d snapped out of existence, that my body might still look like it was moving about, but whatever or whoever ‘Sasuke’ was had been murdered that night alongside all my neighbours and parents. It was only with you I felt real again, just a kid hanging out with his friend.’

Even now, or maybe especially now after the disappointment and anger of Christmas and New Year, a light glowed around Naruto’s heart at Sasuke calling him ‘his friend’.

He nudged Sasuke gently with his elbow and smiled. ‘I kinda do get why everyone always crushes on you now, yaknow, the good looking thing.’

Sasuke returned the smile. ‘Just _kinda_?’

‘Yep. I still think you’ve got stupid hair.’

They laughed and looked at each other for a while. Then Sasuke straightened himself up into his normal upright posture and casually rested one of his hands on Naruto’s knee, stroking his thumb in circles.

‘When I finish explaining you may think my hairstyle is the least stupid thing about me.’ Sasuke took a deep breath. ‘The moment after I left you on New Year’s Eve, I wanted to return to you, but I held myself back as I was worried we’d argue more and I’d say worse things that didn’t reflect what was in my heart. Since then I’ve been thinking about nothing but how to give you what you want, and I knew I couldn’t see you again until I had. I’ve read until my eyes bleed researching where the most beautiful flowers grow and struggled to create a hot chocolate that is so sickly sweet I can’t even bear to smell it, hoping that I can give you something to express how I feel for you. It doesn’t come naturally to me, but I’ll be whoever you need me to be for us to be together.’

Naruto wiped the back of his hand over his eyes to stop the tears forming there. ‘Teme,  I feel guilty now. You’re like your meanest when you’re trying to be nice. Saying all that stuff about how you like me because I was always the only person who you could be yourself around and then saying you’re willing to change for me. I don’t want you to change. This is amazing, being here with you and I’m never going to forget this, but I’d have been happier if you’d just come straight back to me and given me a hug. All I was asking from you is reassurance that we were still friends, that I meant more to you than something to fuck. And when you said all that stuff about only wanting me for sex and…’

‘Don’t repeat what I said. Please.’ An unmistakable expression of regret and sorrow marred Sasuke’s normally perfectly controlled features. ‘The ridiculous thing is that I had been excited ever since you asked me to spend Christmas with you.’ Sasuke held his hand up to stop Naruto interrupting him. ‘Yes. I know. You don’t have to remind me. I pretended that I didn’t know anything about Christmas arrangements. But the truth is…the truth is I’ve looked forward to nothing like I looked forward to spending that day with you. I took ages searching for a present for you.’ He patted the blanket they were sitting on. ‘I chose this as it was the most hideous colour I’d ever seen so I knew you’d love it.’

Naruto stared anew at the beautiful orange and was unsure whether to be insulted or grateful.

‘I may have also had a particularly vivid fantasy about you laying here naked and us fucking all night on it.’

Naruto’s cheeks flushed and predictably his cock reacted, but he forced himself to stay focused and encourage Sasuke to reveal more of what was truly going on between them.

‘Why didn’t you give it to me? Why stand me up? Why pretend you never had any intention of coming?’

‘The usual story in this life, an unexpected attack leading to a whole investigation that drew me further away than I should have been.’

Naruto both nodded in comprehension and frowned in confusion. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that on New Year’s Eve then? I understand yaknow getting in situations where you can’t even send a note or anything. But I don’t understand why you wouldn’t explain that to me and left me thinking I was a crazy lovesick puppy instead.’

‘I rushed back to be with you,’ Sasuke said as if he hadn’t heard Naruto’s questions. ‘None of the injuries I sustained in the mission were serious, but pushing my body to get back on time to you made them all flare up into something more. I was in sight of the Konoha walls, the happy anticipation of seeing you being all that was pumping me forward when I suddenly thought how selfish I was being. I know how much you like any holiday that involves overeating and presents and I realised if I turned up at your flat in the state I was that I’d ruin the day for you. Instead of celebrating with all your loud friends, you’d feel obliged to stay and look after me, and I wouldn’t even be capable of fucking you to let you know how much I appreciate you. So I turned back and stayed away until I was recovered enough to have fun with you.’

Naruto stared at Sasuke, his mouth hanging open and eyes-wide, he thought he knew Sasuke so well but he’d never have ever guessed at the things Sasuke was telling him now, he didn’t know what was more unbelievable, that Sasuke wanted to see him so much that he wrecked his body, or that Sasuke could possibly believe that Naruto would prefer to be with friends rather than looking after Sasuke.

‘I healed fast by resting completely and it gave me lots of time to think.’ Sasuke gave a wry smile. ‘This is where it reaches your level of stupid, dobe. When I seduced you it was something that happened in the moment and felt right, but as soon as you responded to me I knew through my whole soul how long I’d been desiring you and repressing it. The same happened with rushing back for you at Christmas, I could no longer pretend that I could be content with just sex. I made my own resolution that we’d fuck hard like we normally do and then with our lust dealt with, and hopefully thinking a little clearer, I’d start the new year by talking to you and seeing if you’d be interested in having a fuller relationship with me…if you’d be my boyfriend.’

‘Your _boyfriend_?’ Naruto clamped his mouth shut, the disbelief and shock in his voice sounded like he hated the idea. When he didn’t hate it. Not at all.

Sasuke’s face went red. ‘I don’t know if that’s the right word. I don’t know how to express it. I wanted us to live together and…’

‘ _Live together_?’ This time Naruto put his hand over his mouth to try and stop any of the wrong sounds escaping.

‘Yes. I thought we could talk and work things out so I spend more time in the village, and maybe you spend more time coming on the long range missions with me.’ Sasuke shrugged. ‘I wanted everything, your friendship, your body, your kisses, your snoring…and that was the one task I gave myself for this year, to talk to you and see if you understood and felt the same. And now I have so we are done here.’

Sasuke moved to get up but Naruto grabbed his arm. ‘Teme, still no explanation! I was definitely not getting boyfriend-living together-thinking-your-snoring-is-cute vibes off you at New Year’s Eve, what happened?’

Sasuke audibly swallowed. ‘I panicked, okay? When you started saying you wanted things to be different…’

‘But you’re saying you wanted things to be different too?’

‘I know. But panic is not logical. It is difficult to hear the person you’d been planning to propose to tell you he isn’t happy and doesn’t want to have sex with you. Then when you told me you’d been crying on Christmas Day missing me, it hurt to think you were hurting when I’d deliberately acted in a way that I thought would be best for you. It made me doubt whether as a person I’d be capable of having the relationship with you that I wanted. And to know you were gossiping with everyone about me when for me what we have is so private and special between us, was the final straw. But as I’ve already told you as soon as I left my heart ached to be back with you and I knew I’d said everything wrong so I needed to try again and get it right this time.’

‘Wow. You’re dumping a lot of information onto my poor brain, but can we please just back up and focus on that thing you just said now about planning to propose to someone?’

Sasuke pulled his knees into his chest and sat stubbornly silent.

‘Sasuke…were you going to propose to me?’ It was such a strange thing to ask that Naruto’s normally loud voice shook and quivered across the short sentence.

‘From your reaction it obviously doesn’t matter, but as I’ve gone this far, I suppose it makes no difference totally humiliating myself.’ Sasuke pulled a box out of his pocket and tossed it nonchalantly to Naruto who caught it with trembling fingers.

‘That was your other Christmas present that I spent even longer choosing than this ugly blanket. I don’t know how things work between men who are _boyfriends_.’ Sasuke copied too perfectly the way Naruto had pronounced the word. ‘But I knew I wanted you to be mine forever.’

Naruto opened the box and pulled out the glittering diamond ring. His hands shook so much that he dropped the box and it went tumbling down the cliff face to the flowers below. His heart thumped and he quickly slipped the ring on before he dropped and lost it too. Sasuke gazed at the finger with the new ring on.

‘Usuratonkachi…are you accepting me?’ If Sasuke had sounded vulnerable before, Naruto didn’t have the words to describe how the Uchiha sounded now, so young and things Sasuke never was…both frightened and full of hope.

He was about to describe that he’d only put it on to safeguard it from falling, but he looked at the moonlight, he looked at the flowers, he looked at the ring and he looked at Sasuke’s face and knew nothing could ever feel as right as this did.

‘I’m not certain that you properly proposed, or what any of this means to us in real terms, but whatever you’re asking, the answer’s yes, always yes.’

He put his hands on both sides of Sasuke’s face and drew him in for a long lingering kiss that he felt like he’d been waiting his whole life for.


	3. Chapter 3

The pressure of the kiss increased and Naruto pulled Sasuke down on top of him, his legs still dangling over the edge of the cliff, though he was only aware of the parts of his body where he could feel the heat of the other man’s body. He ran his hands over Sasuke’s bare skin revelling in how hot the fire breather was even on a cold winter’s night.  
Sasuke did notice though and tugged Naruto by his collar upwards safely from the precipice.

  
Naruto grinned. ‘You getting all protective now I’m officially yours? You know I’m not in any danger, I fell further than this cliff, yaknow, that time last year when you punched me off the top of that huge tree because you were all bad tempered at me showing you how much faster and better I am at running up trees.’

  
‘Hnnnn.’ Sasuke rearranged the blanket, pulled Naruto further away from the cliff edge and heated up another cup of hot chocolate for him.

  
Naruto allowed Sasuke to fluster around him, if this was what wearing Sasuke’s ring meant, he could get used to being looked after. There were definitely worse things than having the very gorgeous, second best shinobi in the world wrapping his arms around you to make sure you were warm enough. Like spending Christmas night crying into your pillow because even though there were so many kind, nice people you were friends with, there was only one arrogant bastard who could take away all the loneliness and make you feel truly happy. Or pathetically failing to get yourself off on your own because you needed the touch of one special person to get your inner fire lit.

  
He finished the drink Sasuke had made for him and put it to the side. ‘What do we do now?’

  
‘I could hold you through the rest of the night and we could watch the sun rise together?’ There was an incredible amount of doubt and  insecurity in the usually arrogant Uchiha's voice.

  
Naruto’s heart fluttered. In the confusion of trying to understand what Sasuke was saying and doing, it had not registered as it should have done. how much it had emotionally cost Sasuke to bring Naruto to see this beautiful moonlit view and talk to him so honestly about his feelings. No, even further back, from the moment Sasuke had even started to play with the idea of buying a ring for Naruto, Sasuke must have been in turmoil and unsure about what he was doing.

  
Picking up Sasuke’s hands he covered them in kisses finger by finger. ‘I’ll get you a ring too.’

  
‘I’ll choose my own.’

  
‘You don’t trust my taste?’

  
‘No.’

  
‘Okay, you choose it, but let me buy it and do the whole getting down on one knee and putting it on your finger thing, which you totally missed out on by the way.’ Naruto grinned. ‘And I’m going to be constantly reminding you that you are the dobe not me, marrying a dude when you don’t even trust him to pick a ring you like.’

  
Sasuke gave a half smile. ‘It’s a tough choice between having a garish hideous piece of jewellery you expect me to wear, or having you rightfully being able to call me an idiot.’ He twisted his mouth to the side. ‘All right you can choose a ring for me.’

  
‘How do you feel about a toad design? And while we’re thinking about couply things, what's your opinion about matching facial tattoos of each other naked?’

  
They giggled, rolling together on the floor. When he was underneath Sasuke, Naruto pushed up on the other man’s shoulders so they could look directly into each other’s eyes.

  
Seriously he said, ‘Thank you for trusting me with your love. I know how difficult it is for you to let anyone get close to you after losing your parents and Itachi.’

 

‘I didn’t have much choice with you, did I? You’re surprisingly hard to resist.’

  
‘I hope you always feel like that.’

  
‘I will.’ There was no longer any doubt or vulnerability in Sasuke’s voice, only hard certainty. He knocked Naruto’s hands away and pressed his lips down on Naruto’s in a demanding hungry kiss.

  
When Sasuke paused to let Naruto breathe, the blonde gasped, ‘That thing you said about holding me and watching the sun rise, is it possible to add into the whole romantic thing, me on my hands and knees being fucked crazy by you?’

  
Sasuke gave a cat smile. ‘I thought your whole New Year thing was about talking and not having sex all the time.’

  
Naruto groaned. He should have appreciated the shy uncertain side of Sasuke way more, before this bastard returned and was back in control of Sasuke’s amazing body.  
‘This isn’t _all_ the time, this is just now.’

  
‘Oh. So if I pound you into the ground today you won’t want sex tomorrow, for the rest of the week, or the month? How does your resolution work exactly? We can have a long friendly chat with you telling me all about it.’ Sasuke trailed a hand over Naruto’s thighs as he spoke, stopping tantalisingly close to Naruto’s groin but touching nothing.

  
‘Grrr. We’ve talked lots. My resolution was about you not using me for fucking, and now I know you’re not, I want it to feel like you are.’

  
Sasuke smirked. He moved their bodies around so they were lying facing each other. Naruto’s fingers flicked over Sasuke’s exposed nipples and tried to dart down under his lover’s belt but each time he was stopped. Aside from preventing Naruto’s attempts to get to his cock, Sasuke stroked Naruto’s hair and face.

  
‘I don’t know what I’d have done if things hadn’t worked out between us,’ Sasuke said, in a voice that was beautiful but suggested he was totally ignoring Naruto’s attempts to grind against him.

  
‘Well, you know what I would have done, cried through the night and got so frustrated wanting you that I wanked my cock and butt into nothing.’

  
Sasuke openly laughed. ‘Yes, I didn’t want to embarrass you, but what were you trying to do in your room when I found you? This?’  
Through his clothes Sasuke slid a finger between Naruto’s buttocks and teased his hole.

  
‘TEME!’ Naruto yelled out into the moonlit world, his voice echoing around the rocky cliffs and valley below them. He collapsed panting his head sweating against Sasuke’s bare chest.

  
‘Dobe?’ Sasuke put a finger under Naruto’s chin to force him to look up into Sasuke’s amused eyes. ‘Did you just come? From me touching you for no more than a second? And without even skin-to-skin contact?’

  
‘No,’ Naruto grunted unconvincingly his breath still rough and unsteady. ‘Maybe. Yes. But it was only because you interrupted me earlier before I could finish off, not because I’m super sensitive and super desperate for you to touch me or anything. Got it?’

  
‘Obviously.’ Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto and held him close against him.

  
‘It’s just like you to make me come in my clothes so I am all sticky while you are all clean,’ Naruto grumbled as he snuggled into a comfortable position on top of the other man.

  
‘Yes. I was fully aware that a single touch from me would make you explode.’ Despite the mocking tone of his words, his fingers lovingly caressed over Naruto’s hair. ‘Which is why I researched a hot spring that we could go to in the morning and clean you up.’

  
‘Huh, not only me. You’re going to be dirty by morning too, princess. I just need to rest a bit. It’s been a mad time, thinking we were finished and now learning that you loved me all along.’

  
‘I didn’t say I loved you.’

  
‘Then I’m not going to say I love you either.’

  
They linked hands, Sasuke’s fingers stroking over where Naruto was wearing the ring.

  
‘I know it’s late, but Merry Christmas, Naruto, and Happy New Year.’

  
‘Same to you. I have this gut feeling it's going to be the best one ever.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I am always unspeakably grateful to anyone who gives my stories their precious time. This is something that appeared fully formed in my head so I thought I'd try writing it and sharing it here, I hope you enjoy. And although late wish you all an amazing 2019 :)


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